Syracuse’s carbon footprint

Syracusans contribute more per person to global warming than the residents of any other major city in New York, and far more than people in smog-filled Los Angeles, according to a study released today by the Brookings Institution.

Syracuse’s carbon footprint ranks worse than two-thirds of the nation’s largest 100 cities, the study said. Los Angeles, by contrast, produces just 1.41 tons of carbon per capita.

The analysis was conducted by a team of researchers led by Marilyn Brown, a professor of energy policy at Georgia Institute of Technology. Other authors were Frank Southworth, of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Andrea Sarzynski, senior research analyst at the Brookings Institution.

Of course this is all over the newswires with some cities preening (hey Vegas ain’t so bad) and others, like Baltimore, sharing Syracuse’s “shame”. A news peg like this is ripe for misinterpretation, so maybe I’ll revisit it in a few days or months after more information is released.

And this map (pdf warning) from the Cleveland Plain Dealer shows an Appalachian connection.